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OEM miter gauge of 3612

10-05-2003, 09:04 PM

I am a new woodworker and newer owner of 3612. I have read in many places that after market miter gauge is a necessity for accurate cross cuts. My impression of OEM miter gauge of 3612 was pretty positive. I have not checked the angle settings, but there wasn't any noticeable play in the miter slot. I am not sure if I am not being precise enough or what. I just dont want to buy something that I can do without. I just want to know how many of you who own 3612 have after market miter gauge and if so, what which one?

The stock gauge that comes with the 3612 is one of the better ones! However, there's still slop in the track unless you "dimple" the side of the gauge bar with a center punch. Also trying to get to a 1 degree repeatable angle by eyeballing is less than satisfactory.

There are numerous after-market products available...Gauges, sliding tables, cross cut sleds or any combination of them all.

To improve on the stock gauge, you need two absolutes: a bar that allows zero movement laterally in the miter slot, and an indexing angle gauge for absolute repeatabilty.

You can buy a number of gauges that fit this description, but later on you'll need a cross cut sled, and also a full sliding table would be nice also!

Of course, if you're only limiting youself to miters on narrow stock then a SmartMiter would be the answer. But for those guys who want to have something that tackles most things well, but not necessarily absolutlely perfectly, then the Incra 5000 sliding table/cross cut sled is for you.

Build the clone at a pace to suit your own requirements:

Send me an e-mail if you'd like some basic plans, FOC naturally!

David

Comment

I agree with Cutoff. Even with a perfect standard miter gauge, you are limited in terms of the width and length of your cross-cuts. A cross-cut sled or sliding table increases cross-cutting capabilities. I use the Dubby, which is produced by In-Line Industries. Although I've never used one, I am sure the Incra 5000 is a good sled. I have the Incra 1000, which is an improvement over the standard miter guage. However, it suffers the same deficiencies as the standard guage when it comes to cross-cutting capacity.
One thing you need to be aware of with any miter guages is that you're blade must be parallal to the miter slot. My TS2424 manual states that within .015" is acceptable, but this should be within .005". This is not just a matter of accuracy, but is also a matter of safety. If the rear of the blade is closer to the rip fence than the front of the blade, you are risking dangerous kickback on rip cuts. I mention this because I had problems with this aspect of setting up my 2424. I had never used a table saw before setting mine up.